Community Updates

Our Goal

OUR GOAL

To provide a unique environment where folks who have experienced trauma can openly and safely talk. We strive to respect, validate, and learn from each other.

ACHIEVING OUR GOAL

Achieving our goal requires cooperative collaboration amongst members and staff. Members posts remain appropriate and relevant to topics. Terms of Service are clearly posted to help members maintain the dignity of the board. Members of this group are at a stage in their healing to independently regulate their own behavior, as well as keeping themselves safe while on the forums. Staff regularly monitor posts and replies to ensure the board remains a safe and comfortable environment of learning for everyone.

As a friendly and kind community, we validate each other as equally special and significant.

These forums are active and the community not too large or too small - about 400 post per day. There are many forums on different topics. The topics range in subject matter also. You are welcome to interact as you feel comfortable.

This is a safe place for members. We encourage building coping skills, learning from each other and material shared. We discourage sharing explicit memories of past abuse. We feel that processing memories be done with professionals. There are no practicing therapists on these forums. Therefore, topics that call for therapist type responses are discouraged.

Feel free to look around. Realize that, as a guest, your view of the forums is minimal. These forums are otherwise private to the public view and/or search engines.

We have literally hundreds of articles and provide workshops for everyone. Please feel free to email me anytime with questions. I am also providing a tutorial that should help with navigating our site.

Dissociative disorders are mutually exclusive and appear in a hierarchy, with Dissociative Identity Disorder taking precedence over Dissociative Amnesia and Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder.[1]:192 Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (DDNOS) was replaced by Other Specified Dissociative Disorder and Unspecified Dissociative Disorder.[4] Dissociative disorders were included in the DSM-I as "dissociative reaction", and became a separate category in the 1980, with the publication of the DSM-III.[3] In that edition, Multiple Personality Disorder was a separate diagnosis rather than a subtype of a more general condition. MPD was renamed Dissociative Identity Disorder in the 1994 DSM-IV. [4],[1]:191 DSM-5 Conversion Disorders which are Dissociative Disorders in the ICD-10The other main diagnostic manual is the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), which the World Health Organisation is currently revising.[2]

Dissociative convulsions, Dissociative anaesthesia and sensory loss, and Dissociative motor disorder are all recognized in the DSM-5 but are part of the Conversion Disorders section. In the ICD-10 these are within the Dissociative [Conversion] Disorders section. [2] All other dissociative disorders in the ICD-10 have equivalents in the DSM-5 Dissociative Disorders section. [1]The Core Symptoms of Dissociative DisordersDr Marlene Steinberg, who developed the Structured Clinical Interview for Dissociative Disorders to assess dissociation, analyzed the characteristics of dissociative disorders, finding that each dissociative disorder could be described and understood using a combination of one of five core symptoms: [img(397.33333400000004px,397.33333400000004px)]http://traumadissociation.com/downloads/information/dissociativefivecorecomponents.jpg[/img]

amnesiarecurrent memory problems, often described as "losing time", these gaps in memory can vary from several minutes to years

depersonalization a sense of detachment of disconnection from one’s self, this can include feeling like a stranger to yourself, feeling detached from your emotions, feeling robotic or like you are on autopilot, or feeling like a part of your body does not belong to you. Some people self-injure when depersonalized, for example in order to feel "real".

derealization a sense of disconnection from familiar people or one’s surroundings, for example, close relatives or your own home may seem unreal or foreign. Episodes of derealization may happen during flashbacks; you may suddenly feel much younger and feel your present environment is unreal during this time.

identity confusion an inner struggle about one’s sense of self/identity, which may involve uncertainty, puzzlement or conflict. Severe identity confusion regarding sexual identity has been reported in people who have been sexually abused.

identity alteration a sense of acting like a different person some of the time Recognizable signs of identity alteration include using of different names in different situations, discovering you have items you don't recognize, or having a learned skill which you have no recollection of learning. Mild identity alteration is widespread in the non-clinical population and does not cause difficulties for the person, for example a person assumes different roles but remained aware of this alteration. Mood or behavior changes which don't feel under your control, but don't involve using different names or changes in memory or perceived age, etc, indicate moderate identity alteration. This is common in non-dissociative disorders, for example in borderline personality disorder. [6, 7:9-12, 232]